Walks, talks and video-tape
In a day punctuated by legal argument, the Supreme Court heard further evidence from the FHA’s Chief Executive Officer Sam Belfield as Jeremy Griffith and Tim Macartney-Snape’s defamation trial against the ABC continued.
Mr Belfield described how his interest in Mr Griffith’s biological treatise developed through his attendance at a range of talks, walks and other gatherings organised by the FHA over the two years preceding the defamatory Four Corners broadcast in April 1995.
He recalled a particular gathering in Brisbane in January 1995 where Mr Griffith recounted a recent conversation with the second defendant, Reverend David Millikan.
“I wasn’t sure of the details, but understood that this person [Reverend Millikan] had got a prior assessment of Mr Griffith’s work incorrect, wrong,” Mr Belfield said.
The Court heard how an ABC-TV Four Corners film crew, including producers Reverend Millikan and Deborah Masters, joined an FHA bushwalk in the Snowy Mountains near Jindabyne over several days in early February 1995.
Mr Belfield agreed the film crew were free to move around the camp site, but said he was not aware that he was being recorded by Four Corners during an “emotional” conversation with his sister concerning their family which was subsequently included in the broadcast.
After some protracted legal argument about evidentiary issues, the Court was shown video footage of a talk on the human condition which Mr Griffith gave on the third day of the Snowy Mountains walk.
“The real battle, I’m suggesting, is a psychological one. Humans have been capable of immense love and sensitivity, but we have also been capable of greed, hatred, brutality, war, murder…that’s the riddle of the human condition”, Mr Griffith was seen saying.
The footage showed Mr Griffith elaborating on his synthesis and reflecting on the historical journey of new ideas.
“Before Darwin’s time, people thought the question the origin of the reason of the variety of life … seemed to them insoluble in those days but then Darwin came along, and Wallace, with the idea of natural selection…I suggest the great mystery of our time, that future children won’t have to grapple with, is the question of good and evil.”
Earlier in the day, the balance of a recording of an FHA Open Day in 1993 featuring discussion between Mr Griffith, Emeritus Professor Charles Birch and audience members was played to the Court.
Evidence from Mr Belfield continues tomorrow.
